President Barack Obama exchanges a high-five with a youngster after speaking at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

President Barack Obama exchanges a high-five with a youngster after speaking at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Photo: Ed Andrieski / Associated Press

Image 4 of 17

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a crying baby after speaking at a campaign rally in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 13, 2012. (AFP PHOTO/Nicholas Kamm/GettyImages)

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a crying baby after speaking at a campaign rally in Fairfax, Virginia, on September 13, 2012. (AFP PHOTO/Nicholas Kamm/GettyImages)

Photo: Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images

Image 5 of 17

President Barack Obama delivers remarks beside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, on the killing of US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three embassy staff, Wednesday, September 12, 2012, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C. Gunmen attacked the US consulate in Benghazi, killing Stevens and three others, late September 11, 2012, while another assault took place on the US embassy in Cairo. (Pool photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA via Abaca Press/MCT) less

President Barack Obama delivers remarks beside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, on the killing of US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three embassy staff, Wednesday, September 12, 2012, ... more

Photo: Michael Reynolds / McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Image 6 of 17

FILE - In this July 29, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Romney is criticizing President Barack Obama for not planning to meet in person with Netanyahu next week, calling it "confusing and troubling." Romney said at a New York fundraiser Friday that Israel is America's “closest ally” and “best friend in the Middle East." He urged Obama to meet with Netanyahu surrounding the start of United Nations General Assembly meetings next week. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) less

President Barack Obama speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, during a ceremony to welcome the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, during a ceremony to welcome the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Photo: Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press

Image 10 of 17

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney boards his plane at Dulles International Airport in Virginia en route to New York on September 13, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMMNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney boards his plane at Dulles International Airport in Virginia en route to New York on September 13, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMMNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages

In this Sept. 12, 2012, file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney makes comments on the killing of U.S. embassy officials in Benghazi, Libya, while speaking in Jacksonville, Fla. With protests at U.S. embassies and four Americans dead, Romney is suddenly facing a presidential election focused on a foreign policy crisis he gambled wouldn't happen. But it did happen _ and at a bad time. Momentum in the race is on President Barack Obama's side and Republicans are fretting over the state of their nominee's campaign. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) less

In this Sept. 12, 2012, file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney makes comments on the killing of U.S. embassy officials in Benghazi, Libya, while speaking in ... more

Photo: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

Image 13 of 17

President Barack Obama holds a young child as he greets supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

President Barack Obama holds a young child as he greets supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

Photo: Ed Andrieski / Associated Press

Image 14 of 17

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Van Dyck Park, Thursday, September 13, 2012 in Fairfax, Virginia. Romney criticized President Barack Obama's handling of foreign policy on Thursday after four Americans were killed in Libya, saying the United States seems at the mercy of world events. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT) less

President Barack Obama, right, stands as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaks to State Department personnel with concerning the recents deaths of Americans in Libya, in the courtyard of the State Department Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) less

President Barack Obama, right, stands as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaks to State Department personnel with concerning the recents deaths of Americans in Libya, in the courtyard of the State ... more

Photo: Alex Brandon / Associated Press

Image 16 of 17

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is seated on his campaign plane as it flies to Long Island, NY, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is seated on his campaign plane as it flies to Long Island, NY, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Photo: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

Image 17 of 17

The ten most egregious lies of the presidential campaign

1 / 17

Back to Gallery

The 2012 campaign will be known for many things — one of them being that it was the year of the fact-checker. Independent web sites and media mavens alike deputized themselves as truth sheriffs.

CNN’s Candy Crowley even called out Mitt Romney in real time during the town hall presidential debate when the Republican nominee asserted that President Barack Obama waited two weeks before calling the attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens an “act of terror” on the spot during the second presidential debate.

The good news for the candidates is that much of what they claim on the campaign trail turns out to be true. But there were a few whoppers. (And we don’t mean Whopper Junior.)

About 9 percent of Romney’s claims checked by Politifact.com (or 19 of 201) were egregious enough to merit a “pants on fire” standing. Obama was a less-frequent liar: about 2 percent of the time (7 of 451 checked by Politifact).

There was another difference in the truth-telling game: Obama piped down most of the time after being called a “pants-on-fire” liar. Romney, on the other hand, was undeterred by the fact-checkers and repeated many of the most inaccurate claims several times throughout the campaign, despite being publicly debunked.

Here’s a list of the biggest fibs from Obama and Romney this election, plus a couple from their running mates.

1. Obama’s “apology tour”

Romney played this card throughout the campaign and was fact-checked at least four times on Politifact for it. Obama called it “the biggest whopper of the election.” As Romney said during the first debate, he’s “used to people saying something that’s not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it.”

2. Romney is going to “fire” Big Bird

Actually, Romney never said he plans to fire Big Bird. Romney’s plan is to cut the federal subsidy of PBS.

He told Jim Lehrer during the first debate, “I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. … I like PBS, I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.”

3. “Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.”

At an Ohio rally, Romney said he “saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China.” Calling it an overstatement would be nice. Bloomberg News reported that the company would begin production in China again for the first time since 2009. Production is not being halted in the U.S. and shifted to China. In fact, Fiat, the company that bought Chrysler and saved it from bankruptcy, hopes to increase production in the states.

4. Romney “backed a bill that outlaws all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.”

Obama also has been dogged by his own misleading ads. Although Romney has said he is pro-life and supports the Republican platform (which has no exceptions to its abortion ban), he also said he would prefer to allow abortion in cases of rape, incest and to save the life of his mother. His running mate, Paul Ryan, would criminalize abortions in pregnancies caused by incest or rape.

5. “Under Obama’s plan (for welfare), you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check.”

Former President Bill Clinton himself stepped in to rebuke the claim. Romney’s campaign didn’t have much to work with once the president who enacted the welfare reforms in the first place called them out.

6. Mitt Romney “called the Arizona law a model for the nation.”

Romney isn’t exactly welcoming to undocumented immigrants (he said “self-deportation should be used to reduce illegal immigration) but he didn’t go this far. Yes, he really was just talking about a section of the law requiring employers to check potential hires’ citizenship status.

7. President Barack Obama is “ending Medicare as we know it.”

Nope. The Romney team also blamed the supposed collapse in part on the president for funneling $500 billion in Medicare costs to Obamacare. Don’t believe a word of it.

Unless you talk to Richie Rich, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who calls Trump a small businessman. Although there are complicated guidelines to define small businesses for tax purposes, it would be a long shot to squeeze Trump into that category.

9. Obama closed the Janesville, Wisc. GM plant

During VP nominee Ryan’s speech at the Republican National Convention, his fiery introduction to the national stage fizzled when fact-checkers got their hands on this whopper. Obama never promised to keep the plant open and it closed about a month before he even took office. No sliver of truth in this one.

10. Biden: “We weren’t told they wanted more security there.”

Technically, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden didn’t know about the request for added diplomatic security in Libya before the terrorist attack on the Benghazi compound. But the U.S. Department of State did. A play on semantics that’s too misleading to ignore.